5 families that faced bulldozer justice 2 years ago get Rs 30 lakh from Assam govt

The Assam government’s counsel submitted the compensation details to the Gauhati High Court Wednesday. Senior Government Advocate D Nath also told the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam that Islam’s family had not yet been able to produce a next of kin certificate and that authorities would process the payment once they received the document.

He informed the court that the Nagaon Superintendent of Police had made the compensatory payment to the other five families Monday.

On May 21, 2022, a mob from Salonabari village in Nagaon district had set fire to a part of the Batadrava police station after the death of Islam, a fish-seller, after police took him into custody. The very next day, authorities demolished the homes of five families allegedly involved in the incident. At that time, police alleged that the demolished homes belonged to people who had settled there “illegally or with forged documents”.

Last year, in a suo motu hearing on the demolitions, a Division Bench headed by then High Court Chief Justice R M Chhaya said it expects the state government to compensate the people affected by the “illegal action”. The court had earlier come down heavily on the then police superintendent, stating that the police cannot, “under the guise of investigation”, bulldoze anyone’s house without permission.

On April 24 this year, the Inspector General of Police (Admin) submitted a compensation proposal —  Rs 10 lakh for every pucca house and Rs 2.5 lakh for every kutcha house demolished — to the Joint Secretary of the state government’s Home and Political Department. The compensation paid Monday was for the demolition of two pucca houses and four kutcha houses.

The court has also sought information on the action taken against “the erring officers who are responsible for demolition of the houses of the affected persons illegally”. Government Advocate Nath sought four weeks to inform the court about this.

In response to a writ petition by Islam’s wife over his death, the current Nagaon SP submitted an affidavit Wednesday that said that the demolitions were part of “search operations” for concealed “weapons” and “narcotic substances”.

The affidavit stated that a search operation led by the Kaliabor subdivisional police officer in the presence of revenue officers could not locate any contraband items in the homes of the accused after initial searches owing to “lack of cooperation” with the police.

“Further corroboration with source information indicated the confirmed presence of weapons and narcotic substances which were kept well concealed. Hence, it was felt that a thorough search of the premises was necessary. However, when even that didn’t lead to any recovery, it was decided that excavator be used to dig up the house premise to locate the contraband items,” stated the affidavit, adding that the “heightened search” led to the seizure of a revolver with four live rounds and 6,500 Nitrazepam tablets.